


Point of Departure

by PerpetuaLilium



Series: DS9 Christmas vignettes [2]
Category: It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: (It has the Intendant in it; that tag is a given), Alternate Timelines, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/F, Mirror Universe, Narcissism, The Mirror Universe is the Pottersville timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28370937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerpetuaLilium/pseuds/PerpetuaLilium
Summary: Kira Nerys is taken into the Mirror Universe, where her counterpart shares with her an important historical and scientific discovery.
Relationships: Kira Nerys/Mirror Kira Nerys
Series: DS9 Christmas vignettes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2077800
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Point of Departure

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not the first person to come up with this idea but I think I'm the first to write a fic about it. I don't claim ownership over it at all and would love to see other writers or artists do more with it!
> 
> There's mild Kira selfcest stuff as fanservice for a friend of mine who's Intrigued by Nana Vistor's acting in "Crossover" (I have to admit I am too), but it's not necessary to the premise.

Down labyrinthine corridors and through the spiraling hostile architecture of the other side's Terok Nor Nerys was dragged, kicking and screaming at first, then resigned--knowing full well whom she was there to meet, with whom she must speak, that strange reflexive and narcissistic fascination, the feeling that made her feel sinful and strange...

They came to her chambers. She was lounging between two scantily-clad Trill girls (Nerys, the proper Nerys, averted her eyes), eating some sort of fruit with greedy hands. She was almost nude herself; Nerys recognized it well, and felt strangely about it. She stood up and greeted her.

"Look who the Lissepian ridgeback cat dragged in!" the Intendant said in more-than-usually alluring tones. "It's _so good_ to see you again--or, well, to see me again! How have things _been_ on your side?"

"Things have been all right," Nerys said noncommitally. "I'm the commanding officer of my side's Deep Space Nine now. So you and I have that in common."

"We _do!"_ chirped the Intendant. "I'm so happy for you, Nerys." (She still saw no need, apparently, to get dressed. Nerys was noticing several things about her own appearance that she never had before. There was an odd warmth that she felt as she noticed those things.) "Now to business."

"To business?! What the hell business is it of yours that you've kidnapped me and dragged me here _again?"_

"Historical research."

"Research?! Historical research? Intendant, I am just a Bajoran who has had a hard life and has had it about up to here. I am not a historian or even much of a time traveler. What do you _really_ want?"

"A research exchange. A historical, scientific exchange. It's a discovery that I have made here, so who better to tell your side about it than, well, _me?"_ Without waiting for Nerys to answer, the Intendant strode over to a viewscreen. "You see, we have discovered the _point of departure_ between your side and ours, the first historical event that set the two sides of the mirror on their different paths. The people on your side _will_ like that, won't they? And perhaps we can come to an _understanding_ at long last."

"Perhaps," Nerys conceded. "So, what is it? What have you learned?"

"Interesting how unimpressive people can make a difference, isn't it?" said the Intendant. "Never something you or I have had much time for--"

"--speak for yourself--"

"--being as _significant,_ as special, as we are...as I am...but there you have it. One man, just one man--and having him, or not having him, split our worlds asunder."

"Who is this? What's his importance? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, my _darling_ Nerys," said the Intendant. "I am showing you something _important,_ a key piece of knowledge that was long overlooked, never really understood. We have discovered the first man--and it was just one man, initially; funny, _as I said,_ how the little things and the little people can make a difference after all--the first man to exist on your side but not on ours, the man whose existence or nonexistence first tore us apart. On screen!"

The viewscreen lit up with an archival image of a gangly man in what Nerys recognized very vaguely as twentieth-century Earth clothing. He looked lost, thwarted--not like somebody who could have made as much of a difference as her other self was claiming. Below the picture were his name and the dates of his birth and death.

_GEORGE BAILEY_

_1907-1996_


End file.
